Oct 15

Reference links:

Jeremiah 26:1-27:22 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 Psalm 85:1-13 Proverbs 25:16

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

I'll admit it here and now. I'm a wimp who prefers narrative to prophetic poetry. Today we get some lovely narrative. Not content wise; that's all gloom and doom as usual. But there are good stories to be had.

Jeremiah pronounces the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple if the people do not change their ways and he is threatened with death! The palace officials rush over for a sudden trial. After a passionate presenting of accusations against Jeremiah and an equally passionate defense of his innocence, the officials declare Jeremiah's words to not be worthy of death. Then some wise old men rise up, speak of prophets of old, and indicate that Jeremiah should be listened to. Later we learn that this required persuasion from Ahikam son of Shaphan.

To show how amazing Jeremiah's rescue is, we are then presented with the story of Uriah, another prophet who predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The king threatened to kill Uriah. When Uriah fled to Egypt, men were sent after to drag him back. Then he was killed. The political environment was not friendly to prophets.

And that's an illustration of why I am glad I live in a country that supports free speech. Even though I think religious folks often despair at the way that we evil atheists use our free speech, without giving everyone protection, the potential Jeremiah's would also be unable to express their unpopular views.

The other story in today's reading involves a bit of performance art. Jeremiah wears around a yoke to show how Judah and the surrounding nations should submit to the yoke of Babylon. The false prophets may spread good news, but Jeremiah is convinced that Babylon will take away what little independence they left Judah with after the first deportation.

The existence of these other prophets makes me skeptical of the idea of Biblical prophets. Jeremiah's prophecies were, one would assume, included because he was determined to be a true prophet. This was, I against would assume, at least partially because the people who chose the canon realized that Jeremiah was right. But it sounds like you could find prophets to predict any outcome. Thus it seems that whatever the outcome of the conflict with Babylon, there would have been some prophet to canonize, some prophet whose words were correct. This makes the correctness of the general gist of Jeremiah's prophecies much less impressive.

New Testament

We finish 2 Thessalonians. Paul requests prayers and asks the people to live proper lives. This includes working for a living. The author of the letter also show what a diversity of early Christianities there were by preaching avoidance of those who do not obey what is in this letter. Like with Jeremiah and the people who could have taken his place, I wonder who would have taken Paul's place if some other variant of Christianity had won out.

Psalms and Proverbs

Do you like honey?
Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

Honey is tasty!

Oct 14

Reference links:

Jeremiah 23:21-25:38 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 Psalm 84:1-12 Proverbs 25:15

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

What's of interest today? Let's see if we can find anything.

False prophets are evil and whatnot: Nope

Visions of good and bad figs which represent, respectively, the people taken into exile and those left behind in Jerusalem: Kind of interesting.

Jeremiah scolds the people for not listening to him and idols are bad: Nope

A prediction that "Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years": Interesting because it's wrong. According to the internets, the first deportation of Israelites was in 597 BCE and the next (the one which ended the kingship) was 587 BCE. By 538 BCE the forced exile was ended because Darius of Perisa had conquered the Babylonian empire and it was his policy to let people return to their homelands. Thus, the gap between the start of the exile and the end of Israel and the neighboring lands serving the king of Babylon was, depending on how you count, 49 or 59 years. Not 70.

Nations being forced to drink the cup the Lord's anger: Interesting because there is nothing in the text itself (at least in English) to indicate that this is any more symbolic than many passages literalists insist on taking literally. Do they insist on taking this one literally?

God's going to cause misery and destruction: Nothing new.

New Testament

What will happen before Jesus comes? The author of 2 Thessalonians lets us know. A "man of lawlessness" must arise.

He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

He'll be evil, of course.

This makes me suspect the Pauline origins of this letter. Paul's pretty good at repeating the things he considers important (again and again) . If this were a genuinely Pauline idea, I would expect it to be repeated elsewhere. Either that or Paul considers this a minor idea.

I also discovered when searching for 'Paul antichrist'. That there are apparently a non-trivial number of websites declaring Paul to be the antichrist. I had never encountered that particular train of thought before.

Psalms and Proverbs

Patience and soft speech are good.

Oct 13

Reference links:

Jeremiah 22:1-23:20 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 Psalm 83:1-18 Proverbs 25:11-14

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

I have not been tracking the chronological ordering (or rather, lack thereof) in Jeremiah, but today we have a what seems like a jump back in time. We have gone from the imminent doom of Jerusalem to Jeremiah giving what are, for him, reasonably friendly warnings to the king.

This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects. But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the Lord, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.

Then we seem to jump forward again with messages about Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. Quick review. Jerhoahaz was the king taken to Egypt and replaced with essentially a puppet king, his brother Jehoiakim. Although Judah had not been completely destroyed at this point, its kings were pretty much powerless. This makes it seems like Jeremiah's warning above to an earlier king or, at latest, Jehoahaz before he was deposed. On the other hand, the repeated references to the palace do thematically link the opening warning and the message to Jehoiakim.

In any case, the picture is pretty grim for Jehoiakim. Jeremiah most emphatically does not think he will come to any good. After that, the Lord sends message to Jehoiakim that he will an unmourned death. We then read prophecies again Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin. He does not fare much better in the eyes of the Lord. He'll die in exile.

Jeremiah then prophecies eventual restoration and lasting safety of his people. Those are most certainly unfulfilled prophecies. Even for those who consider Jesus to be the "Righteous Descendant", there is certainly some delay in the implementation of this plan:

But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing.

Also, Jeremiah doesn't like false prophets because they encourage evil. People should not listen to them.

New Testament

New book! I must admit that just from today's reading, I could go either way on Pauline authorship. That said, the bit in the middle gave me pause:

He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe.

Mighty angels and flaming fire do note seem like standard Paul, and generally thus far Paul has talked about praise given to God, not Jesus (or human praise, but that is generally in a negative context).

Other than that, greetings, thankfulness for the growing faith of the church, and prayers to them all seem typically Pauline.

So now let's see what Understanding The Bible has to say:

Although repeating themes from 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians  reinterprets Paul's original eschatology, asserting that a number of traditional apocalyptic "signs" much precede the eschaton. 

Many scholars question Paul's authorship  of 2 Thessalonians. If Paul composed it, why does he repeat -- almost verbatim -- so much of what he had just written to the same recipients? More seriously, why does the author present an eschatology so different from that given in the first letter? In 1 Thessalonians, the Parousia will occur stealthily, "like a thief in the night." In 2 Thessalonians, a number of apocalyptic "signs" will first advertise its arrival. The interposing of these mysterious events between the writer's time and that of the Parousia has the effect of projecting the eschaton further into the future -- a contrast to 1 Thessalonians, in which the end is extremely close. 

Scholars defending Pauline authorship advance several theories to explain the writer's apparent change of attitude toward the Parousia. In the first letter, Paul emphasizes the tension between the shortness of time the world has left and the necessity of believers' vigilance and ethical purity as they await Christ's return. In the second missive, Paul writes to correct the Thessalonians' misconceptions of his earlier emphasis on the nearness of end time.

... Paul rarely predicts specific events in the course of future history, particularly in the vague and cryptic style of 2 Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians contains a warning that forged letters were already circulating in Paul's name and ends by insisting that Paul verified his genuine letters with his own signature. Scholars doubting Pauline authorship view the pseudonymous writer as protesting overmuch, but the apostle appends similar comments to undisputed letters. 

The Wikipedia article has more details.

So it sounds like we're in for vague, not typically apocalyptic warnings in a letter that may or may not be genuinely Pauline.

Psalms and Proverbs

All of today's proverbs are rather poetic:

Timely advice is lovely,
like golden apples in a silver basket.

To one who listens, valid criticism
is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry.

Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer.
They revive the spirit of their employer.

A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it
is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.